Jamal began his day by taking a deep breath inside the carriage. It had been a tiring two weeks since they turned around, and they were only a day away from arriving at the port city. After all this time, were they finally going to make it at last? From there, all they would have to do is find a boat or anything else that would take them to Suruthem and they would hopefully be safe. But for now, they would have to wait until the time came.
"We almost there?" Fonda muttered, waiting for this journey to end.
"We should be by tomorrow," he replied, staring at the jagged cliffs to his right, and steep hills to the left.
Everyone else was still asleep, and there wasn't much they could do until they stopped for a rest, as dawn was about to begin. But at that moment, he noticed something unusual. Were his eyes playing tricks on him, or was he seeing lights in the far distance? Shaking his head, Jamal stared harder, but the lights didn't faze away. The city must be closer than they thought.
"You see something?" Fonda asked, noticing his expression.
"Yeah, Port-O-Bea I think." he grinned.
Fonda smiled back, before taking a short nap again until they took another break. He continued to stare at the city ahead, slowly approaching it with excitement.
"Hey, we're getting close?" Ula finally woke up, for now, kissing his cheek.
"I can see it. That's a good site to see," he replied.
Suddenly, the carriage jerked to the side, waking everyone up.
"Yo, what the heck!" Hops cried out in frustration.
As the carriage slowed down, Jamal looked out the window to see an old man hobbling towards them. Getting out quickly, he moved closer to him cautiously, as it was strange for someone to be in the middle of the road.
"Hey, we almost ran you over!" Jamal roared at him.
"I'm so sorry young boy, but I needed help since everyone coming this way has passed me. One of my own carriage's wheel has broken off, and I saw you coming my way. Please help me," the old man explained.
Shrugging his shoulder, he followed the man down the road to see a small carriage in a ditch, and one of the wheels next to it broken in half. Grabbing the end that was without the wheel, Jamal attempted to lift it but was barely making progress.
"I'm going to have to get my friend, as I can't lift it without messing it up," he said, before getting Hops to assist him.
Once they returned, they were able to lift it with more ease and got it out of the ditch and to the side of the road. Sighing slightly, they asked him if he had a spare wheel or would they have to go into town to get some help.
"Yeah, there should be a wheel inside. I might be able to get it on." he smiled back while saying.
They nodded and moved towards the back, where it was covered in cloth. What could have made this small thing so much heavier than it looked, they wondered as Jamal pushed back the cloth to the contents inside. To his surprise, he saw a person in raggy clothes with a rusty dagger in his hands, and ruffling from the front appeared another one, who quickly grabbed the old man and put a knife to his throat.
"Heh, look what we got here. Listen here kids, you about to do as we say or we gonna have some problems. You don't do as we say and we'll start subtracting, so how about we follow directions for a bit?" the man with the rusty dagger muttered to them.